Accenture

Accenture is, perhaps, the biggest Business Integration Consulting firm in the world. It used to be known as by another name, but, after a very messy divorce from its parent company, it had to change its name. Strictly speaking, this connection is not to be spoken of.

Accenture (ACN) was originally under the auspices of Arthur Andersen as Andersen Consulting (AC). When Arthur Andersen started competing with Andersen Consulting as well as still collecting Andersen's profits, AC demanded international mediation - with the end ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce that Andersen Consulting could split off, but that they could no longer use the Andersen name. This was devastating at the time, due to marketing and branding, but with the Enron blow-up less than two years later, is now generally agreed to have been quite opportune. The Accenture name ("accent on the future") was submitted by an Accenture employee out of Norway.

Note: Although Accenture may have initially had hard feelings (they did, after all, have to pay quite a bit to Arthur Andersen prior to split), as for employees speaking of the "messy divorce," it's not considered taboo, but rather since going public and having one of the top 100 brands internationally, it's not really of interest or relevance. Senior employees will often talk about their early experiences, "back when it was Andersen," or "when I joined Andersen," but it's usually just as a matter of fact.

Accenture's marketing campaign for the past 4 years has been "high performance, delivered" and featured Tiger Woods golf ads. These are often in airports and financial magazines.

Accenture's largest competitor is IBM Consulting, but often competes with Deloitte, Infosys, and other business outsourcing and consulting firms.

Accenture has over 100,000 employees in outsourcing, enterprise, solution, and consulting operating units. The consulting group features an "up or out" mentality with their fast paced (accelerated) career model. Employees have a set timeline for promotion, with some wiggle room, but with the expectation that if they are not reasonably ready for promotion, they will not be successful with (i.e. not stay with) the firm.